Wednesday, September 07, 2011

3DS can do FPS games without dual analog

So the Internet is going totally insane with the announced analog attachment for the 3DS (presumably to be released with Monster Hunter Tri). First of all, there is nothing wrong with how the 3DS is designed. None of the games announced for the 3DS will require you to use a second analog stick to make them function. Mario Kart 7, Super Mario Land 3D and Kid Icarus don't need the second analog stick. Lets go over some FPS options for the 3DS:

How would developers get FPS games to work on the 3DS without a second analog stick? The answer is pretty simple really; the Nintendo 64 did just fine with only one analog stick and it didn't even have the benefit of having a touch screen. Remember Goldeneye's Solitaire control style? What about Turok: the Dinosaur Hunter?

Here is how a FPS game like COD could control on the current 3DS without making use of touch screen aiming:

R button: Fire

L button: Aim down sights

X, Y, A, B: movement forwards, left, right and backwards

Slide Pad: Aiming and looking in any direction

D-Pad Up: Melee

D-Pad Left: Grenade

D-Pad Right: Special Grenade

D-Pad Down: Jump (or any of these could be flip flopped according to the user preference)

This goes to show that Nintendo releasing this Dual Analog setup for the 3DS isn't really the end of the world since games that use Dual Analog can still be played on the 3DS without the extra stick. I highly suggest that people wait until the Nintendo Conference to see what they say about this before jumping to conclusions about the design of the 3DS and how this add-on supposedly makes it look like a failure when it appears to me like it's just an optional add-on made specifically for Monster Hunter.

I Completely disagree. Having a 2nd analog stick gives the user more control over the 3DS. You sound like you've never played a game before honestly. Why don't you go pick up Metroid Hunters for the DS and try and play that game for a few hours. You'll quickly understand why 1 analog stick just is not enough. If you need movement and camera control you need 2 analog sticks. Unless we are talking about a PC but thats a whole different ballgame.